Kymberli Mulford is the proud mom of a grade-schooler and high-schooler in the Chicago suburbs, and the proud grandmother of her now-grown stepson’s four children. When she’s not shuttling her sons from one activity to another, she works in the world of educational technology – as a district administrator, a learning facilitator, a consultant, and as a blogger at Onionskin. For more of Kymberli’s “mom” posts click here!

I’m a mom, but I was a teacher long before that, and this memory from my classroom comes back to me each year at about this time. Good thing…

One hot California morning in May, I perched on an empty student desk and spent a few spare moments chatting about nothing in particular with my fifth and sixth graders.

“So, what are you guys looking most forward to doing, once school is out next week?”

“Sleeping.” (Laughter. I smiled and nodded.)

“Watching TV.” (General sounds of agreement.)

“Staying up late.” (Oh, yeah!)

“Playing video games all day.” (BIG agreement from group.)

(Silence.)

“What else?”

(Silence.)

“Um, well… that’ll take me all summer.” (Laughter.)

“No, really…”

(Silence.)

“Well, um, like after about the first couple weeks, I’m bored.”

Those last two words are like nails on a chalkboard to me. I was raised in a home in which there were plenty of books, games, craft materials, toys, etc. that I swear that I never even thought to utter those two words. (I just checked. Parents confirmed that I never said those words in my entire life.) Granted, the socio-economic status of the kids in my classroom did not offer that range of activities, or even the forethought on their parents’ part. But the concept of all of these bright kids whining “Mom, I’m bored…” in a few weeks made my skin crawl.

“Oh, come on. There must be something else you want to do.”

“Not really. I don’t drive yet.” (Laughter.)

“Yeah, and I’m broke.” (More laughter.)

“Oh, wait! I know this one! You want us to READ all summer!” (Even I laughed aloud at this one, although I secretly wished they would take that more seriously…)

“I can’t do anything. My mom always makes me watch my little brothers and sisters.”

“OK. That’s it. Your homework assignment for tomorrow….” (Groans…) “Is to come up with five things that you can do when you’re bored with the things we already mentioned.”

“With or without my brothers and sisters?” (Laughter.)

“Excellent point! Let’s categorize these.” (Groans.)

My students came up with the following groupings:

• Things I can do on my own, or prefer to do alone

• Things that I like doing with a friend

• Things that I can do to entertain a younger brother or sister

• Things I would like to do with my mom, dad, aunt, etc.

• Things that have to be done outside

• Things that have to be done inside

• Fun places I’d like to go (that aren’t too far away and don’t cost a lot of money)

They agreed that each of them could come up with at least one item for each category. (Several had five or six jotted down for each category before they left school that day.) We planned to compile our lists the next day and come up with one magnificent solution to the monotony of the long, hot weeks ahead.

In the end, that group came up with a total of 186 things to do, and we published our first “Mom, I’m Bored” Book, which each child took home – a now seemingly clunky publication with early clipart images and funny fonts that kids love. (Hey! This was done in the days before internet! It was “high tech” for that era!)

I have since spearheaded this activity with over a hundred classrooms and suggested it to countless mommies at playgroups in the spring months. I’ve done it as a substitute teacher in England (although there I was referred to as a “teacher on supply”) and have created a class wiki rather than a printed publication recently. I invite you to take the idea and run with it, in whatever direction you wish.

A few suggestions, before you begin, though…

• When you’re brainstorming with the kids, don’t eliminate any ideas. List them and see if they can’t be modified to something more reasonable later, or moved into a whole new category. With really little kids, “Go to Disneyland” seems just as reasonable as “Go bowling with Daddy.” Just move it to a new list of “Far Away Places We Should Think About Going…”

• Adjust your categories to fit your needs. My fifth and sixth graders were admittedly on the brink of more independence than your own 3-year-old and 6-year-old are. When I first did this activity with my own 4-year-old at home, we made a whole category of “Things I Can Do with a Bigger Kid’s Help.” I promptly employed the 8-year-old neighbor for a couple of hours a week at a ridiculously low $1.00 per hour. Results? My son gained a new “friend” to look up to and play with while I got an hour here and there to do stuff around the house. I got hundreds of wonderful watercolor paintings and clay sculpture masterpieces. And my neighbor kid became my new “Mommy’s Helper.” (Guess who became my very best babysitter several years later?)

• Do think about how you want to publish the results. Sometimes, I sent the “booklet” home with my students. (Have I mentioned how many thank-you notes I got from parents for this over the years?) Sometimes, I printed the categories on separate pages in big, bold fonts and made them available in the necessary places. “Things I can do on my own” might be a nice addition to a child’s bedroom door, if books and activities are available in her room. “Things that I like doing with a friend” was most effective in our playroom or where the outdoor toys were stored in the garage.

• Most importantly… No really, I mean it… Don’t publish or post the list immediately. Wait until the third week of summer, when you hear for the first time that whiny, tired phrase, “Mom… I’m bored….”

• Newer Moms: Don’t think that this is just for bigger kids. So what if your kids are toddlers and don’t read yet? Take photos of them with their favorite toys and activities and make these into a small picture book! It’s immensely powerful when they can excitedly point to a picture of themselves blowing bubbles or doing sidewalk chalk scribbles. You provide the language and the opportunity to recreate that moment.

Bottom line: Harness the anticipation of summer! Use it to fuel the fires of creativity! And for those of you who are doubting that you’ll need a list of any sort to keep your kids occupied over the summer, know that one of my own kids’ favorite activities at the end of the summer is going BACK through the list and marking off all of the things that they were able to do, all the things that they anticipated being able to do once the time constraints of the school year disappeared. When a family friend or teacher asks them, “What did you do this summer?” they have a wonderful answer. They don’t say, “Ummm… nothing.”